Map’s Edge isn’t far from your classic fantasy comfort read; it’s a book for the winter, a book that’s warm and ready to take you on an adventure you might be familiar with, but it’s far from anything you’ve read before. There’s a modern voice, a twist on what you’ve read before. From the tale of Vashtariel the last God-King of the Aldar, the quality of Gravis’ alcohol, to the clientele is his tavern, the details are all here.
Fantasy
Book Tour: Creation (Why Odin Drinks #1) by Bjorn Larssen
Creation is a humorous retelling of the Norse creation myth, centering around the god brothers, Odin, Vili, and Ve. Instead of being a straightforward retelling of the myth, Larssen has taken Norse mythology and viewed it through the lens of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, resulting in a silly and often slapstick look at Norse tradition.
Review: The Splinter King (The God-King Chronicles #2) by Mike Brooks
The Splinter King is the second book in Mike Brooks’ God-King Chronicles series, and the author really goes to great lengths to expand the world and the characters. While I did not think it quite lived up to the expectations set by the first book, I did still enjoy it.
Review: Dreams of the Dying (Enderal #1) by Nicolas Lietzau
As you can probably tell by now, my feelings on Dreams of the Dying are really mixed. It seems like everything I liked about it also happened to be its greatest flaws. Take the worldbuilding, for instance. I loved how deep Lietzau went with the worldbuilding, giving us two unique cultures and fantastical creatures galore.
Review: The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
ot only as a fantastic story in and of itself, but it also ties up a four-book series in a way that is both enjoyable and optimistic. (Most) loose ends were tied, character arcs fulfilled, many questions answered, but a couple of new ones were introduced that infused the finale with a wondrous sense of mystery. To be honest, I was caught off guard with how it all wrapped up, reeling from how amazingly cool things turned out that I needed to re-read it just to absorb everything that happened—and I loved it. I don’t need a tidy ending, truth be told. But author Josiah Bancroft did a phenomenal job giving this series an ending befitting the majestic, enigmatic Tower of Babel.
Review: The Black Coast (The God-King Chronicles #1) by Mike Brooks
The Black Coast is the first book in Mike Brooks’ epic fantasy series The God-King Chronicles. It is a great start in what appears to be a promising story.
Review: Blood of the Chosen (Burningblade & Silvereye #2) by Django Wexler
Blood of the Chosen is rip-roaring action set in an epic fantasy universe full of rebellion, fuckery and stakes that raise the consequences of character’s actions.
The Hellborn King (The Hellborn King Saga #1) by Christopher G. Brenning
Synopsis A kingdom at war. A royal family at war with itself. After the massacre of his people, Damien Dreadfire leads a patchwork army of unlikely allies against the Kingdom of Betanthia. The alliance teeters on the edge of a knife, as old rivalries between clans threaten to tear it apart. With the help of […]
Monster Hunter International (#1 & #2) by Larry Correia
Monsters are real. But Monster Hunting is [semi] privatized. Enter Monster Hunter International (MHI)! Not all worlds need to be rich and fancy. Sometimes the solution is as simplistically elegant as picking up a gun and shooting a monster in the head. The author describes this as “a conglomeration of B-Movie stereotypes but tackled from the perspective tactical realism” and it’s just that.
Review: Shackled Fates (The Hanged God #2) by Thilde Kold Holdt
Shackled Fates is the second volume in the Hanged God trilogy, the story that carries right on from the first. Right back into the action, right back into the tale; the bard strums his guitar and continues the fireside tale of Vikings, their gods, and the impending final battle. Holdt effortlessly writes with a voice that’s whispered from ear to ear, passed down through the histories and into the story we have in front of us; with face-paced action, large-scale battles, and whispers in the wind, we’re transported through the Nine Worlds again on a story that promises to change the fate of them all.
Review: Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne #1) by Peter McLean
Following the story as told/written by Tomas Piety in first person, the reader is met with a matter of fact recounting of events that reveals a character who is choosing to share his story, while also keeping some of the details to himself. This is all done while commenting on it all in a manner that, I don’t want to say is bleak, cause it’s not really that, more like with very few fucks left to give and heavily influenced by the protagonist’s principles. This sort of unreliable narrator is the kind that fascinates me the most, especially because when done well, and I’d argue that McLean did it brilliantly, it reveals more about the characters themselves than what they’re actually telling the reader. At the same time, this makes for a fast moving story that doesn’t waste time on world building through long expositional paragraphs, but rather only focuses on the relevant details and events.
Draigon Weather (The Legacies of Arnan #1) by Paige L. Christie
Synopsis Draigon Weather The brutal, drought-bringing heat that arises from the colossal, near-mythical Draigon, is a fell portent, heralding the doom of a striving woman. When Leiel’s mother is Sacrificed to the Draigon to relieve the terrible drought, Leiel is marked by the shame brought to her family. She must leave school, relegated to a new […]